Tag Archives: bobby jones

Thirteen years ago today, the Padres beat the Dodgers, 8-0, at Qualcomm Stadium. The victory improved San Diego’s record to 43-58 and pulled them to within 4 ½ games of the fourth-place Colorado Rockies. It was epic.

Also epic: Bobby Jones. The Padres employed two pitchers with that name. This is the right-hander from Fresno, not the left-hander from New Jersey (though they sometimes pitched in the same game).

Jones spent 10 years in the big leagues, his final two with the Padres. He went 15-27 with a 5.26 ERA in two seasons here. Opponents hit .303/.334/.511 against Jones, who led the National League in losses (19) and home runs allowed (37) in 2001.

What I’m trying to say is that he had trouble getting guys out, which is probably why he stopped pitching after his stint in San Diego. But he had a nice run as the precursor to Joe Blanton and even made the NL All-Star team in 1997. Hell, he one-hit the Giants in the 2000 NLDS.

Jones wasn’t very good by the time he came to the Padres. But on a warm Wednesday in July, he dominated a Dodgers team that would go on to win 92 games.

The Edinson Volquez era finally ended on Tuesday, when the Padres released the erratic right-hander three days after designating him for assignment. A lot went wrong during his nearly two seasons in San Diego after coming over from the Reds as part of the package for Mat Latos. Pitching coach Darren Balsley noted that Volquez overthrew in games, which “led to mechanical breakdowns,” which led to disastrous results.

He had his moments, such as the near no-hitter in 2012 and, well, that’s about it. Bryant investigated Volquez’s “quest for control” back in March and called the pitcher an “infuriating combination of top-level talent with lackluster results.” As Padres Trail more recently put it, “So long and thanks for all the walks.”

Volquez tied for the MLB lead in walks in his first season with the Padres. This year he cut his walk rate from 5.2 to 4.4 and compensated by increasing his hit rate from 7.9 to 10.6. Oh, he found the plate all right. He led MLB in runs allowed at the time of his release, which is no small achievement given his home venue. Read More…